Mad Fools
by Blightstrider
Summary: A change occurs at the forgotten ends of the world, the consciousness of a boy is unwilling released, but he does not return to his home world alone. Sinister entities lurk and seek to plunge Tatsumi Port Island into chaos. Meanwhile, a Wild Card transfers to a familiar school and the Fall creeps ever closer. Set after Persona 4 Golden (No Arena), features characters from P3/4.


He was drowning, always drowning.

How long had he been drowning?

He remembered the warm sunlight, that bright graduation day, than nothingness.

He was sinking.

He felt something eating away at him, tearing at his form. He felt his last moment upon him.

Yet he wouldn't die.

He would never die.

He couldn't die.

Although he felt himself being suffocated, he would never give in to deprivation.

Although he felt as if his body was about to be ripped apart, the assaults would always relent.

He was trapped in an eternal darkness, simply floating in an empty space. But he was not alone; he could always feel the presence of other things_, _monsters far greater than him, dwelling in the shadow of man. However, they were strange to him, alien and uninterested in interaction.

Seconds turned to minutes.

Minutes turned to hours.

Hours turned to days.

And days turned into eternity.

Forever this should continue.

Forever it felt it would continue, until he heard something, the first thing he had heard ever since he was locked in this lifeless state.

'This is hell' he heard himself say, although he never spoke the words.

_Can I even speak? _He wondered

'You have been doomed to a fate you did not want; all you did was submit.' he spoke again.

He didn't know what to think. This imprisonment had been without any form of speech for its entirety.

Once again, a massive pain coursed through his self as something attempted to tear through, an invisible pressure crushing at his soul. He felt its desperation, its animalistic rage as it, once more, failed to tear through his being. But just as quickly, it subsided.

'You have been betrayed to this.'

_What?_

That was not right. He had chosen this at his own accord. What no one else could do and no one else wanted him to do.

'Or was your life on the rails ever since that night on the Moonlight Bridge? Given the choice between the end of mankind and sacrificing your happiness, was there any option?' the voice stated passively. 'Wasn't it your friends that chose your role? You held onto Death at the decision of one girl, you lead the attack upon insistence of another. In the end, the last ten years of your life was subject to the whims of others, where you slept, who you fought for and even where you died. All for some pretty faces.'

_You're wrong._ He thought, he didn't know why he needed to argue with himself, but he could not stand to listen to it. _That's not true._

'You were happy to be the hero, the savior of mankind, he who would lead them against the shadows.' The voice mocked, 'No, you craved it, because it finally replaced the boredom of a day-to-day life.'

_No. I wanted to be no such thing. _

'As opposed to living a carefree life, sleeping through classes and fooling around? You were nothing then, you are nothing now and nothing is the worth of what you presumed to saved' it continued, uncaring for his protest. 'You can't deny the thrill of the power that came to you. The "potential" that allowed you to leave behind a dull student's life.'

_Shut up._ He said firmly in his mind, giving in to this annoyance.

'In the end though, everyone but you knew, the ultimate role of the messiah is to make the hardest choices and the final sacrifice. Humans are too weak to accept that role, so they decided to shift their burden on to you, someone who was too weak to deny them, because you felt you were obligated to, right?'

_No. That's wrong. That isn't like me at all._

He felt a stir of emotion within him; feelings he thought had either died off or gone dormant long ago when he resigned himself to this hell. Was it rage perhaps? Or fear?

'Regardless of your choices, your role as "savior" means nothing to this world of shit, blind to what happens in the dark. Those who relied on you to save them, also decided to leave you to your fate.' the doppelganger said coldly. 'Great choice of friends there, ME"

_What?_ The last words struck the boy.

'Of course, that assumes you had a choice in who would be your friends to begin with.'

_Me?_

'Catching on are we? You should know; you are alone at the end of the universe. Talking to yourself was the only bit of humane company you were going to get anymore.'

He was too baffled to respond to… himself for now. Had he lost it?

'Well, on the bright side, you are better company than some of what fate forced you to endure last year. People are too clingy, whether it is someone looking for a leader, a friend or a comrade; they all rely on you to save them.' His voice chuckled. 'None of them are willing to return the favour obviously.'

_Shut up. _He thought again.

'Of course, you know the truth as well as I do about this dead state.' it continued on, a smile evident in its tone. 'Your suffering, your struggle, your bonds and your dreams, all of it is meaningless'.

_I said shut up!_ He screamed in his mind, he couldn't deal with this… companion any longer. He could not retain even an illusion of sanity whilst hearing its words, he would find no peace.

'And at the end of this lovely journey of self-fulfillment, there was nothing awaiting you but despair. I guess this is just you accepting "full responsibility for your actions?"'

He could feel something snap within him, the almost conscious realization of something he had tried so stubbornly to deny for eternity. A reality he could not accept as fact.

_You're wrong! None of that is how I think! It isn't anything like it! _He screamed as he struggled to find the right words to throw this… presence off.

_You're not me!_

Brief silence answered him and for a moment, the boy believed he was once again alone. Then there was a small chuckle which broke into a full laughter and the voice spoke one final time, a dark mirth infested his tone.

'No,' it admitted, 'I'm not.'

Then his world changed.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, that's the prologue done. Obviously this chapter is a little short. But that can't really be helped; my prologues tend to be a little short (not that I have any prologues to compare them too, but I would like to think that they are generally short). The next one will be longer!

Anyway, this is the start of my first fanfic, **Mad Fools**, set after the events of Persona 4 Golden's epilogue. For the sake of how I intend to handle things, the events of Persona 4 Arena will be disregarded, as doing so opens up more paths that I may take and to ensure divergence with the canon.

This is my first time writing fiction for an audience, so don't tear me too many wounds in the reviews. Constructive criticism is welcomed, and that's it from me for now. Peace out!


End file.
